Realize Your Potential (H.S)

Chapter Twenty-Six

The next two weeks come and go like a blur. We manage to put on our acting showcase without any major hiccups and some of the audience members even tell me that my scene with Evan is their favorite.

We both feel relatively triumphant as we share a high five, glad to see all our hard work had paid off.

I also survive all of my other finals in my other classes, even the eight-minute speech I had to give for public speaking. When I walk out of the classroom building that Thursday I feel relieved and in definite need of winter break.

However, as I'm walking out to the parking lot I find the small group of people who I now am able to call my friends standing together. Nat holds a container in her hands and looks as though she's talking at a hundred miles per hour before she sees me.

"Olivia! There you are!" she says, beaming at me.

"Hey. Are we having a meeting or something?" I joke, taking a place next to Liam.

"You could say that," Louis says, folding his arms over his chest.

"Nat is forcing us to go to her house tomorrow night for a Christmas party. But apparently we all have to draw names for some 'Secret Santa' thing," Liam informs me.

"It's supposed to be fun," Nat insists. "You just have to pick out one of the six names in here, don't tell anyone who you get, and then you buy a present for them. Then when the person opens it they'll have to guess who got them the present."

Nat now holds out the box to me, her eyes sparkling as she waits for me to reach inside. Due to the boys' slight reluctance with her idea, I give her a reassuring smile before I take one of the papers out.

The boys follow suit, and we grow quiet as we each read the name on our slips of paper.

I'm happy to see that I've managed to pull Nat's name. If I had to shop for Louis or Niall then I would have had no idea what to buy.

The thought causes me to lift my eyes slowly as I stare at Styles who is focused on his own slip of paper from across the circle. I can't help but wonder who may have pulled his name and I also debate whether it would be easy to find him a gift if I had been the one to pull his name.

"Did anyone pull their own name? Because if you did, we need to trade it out," Nat says.

We all give her different forms of no, which prompts her to smile in excitement. However, there's a new bounciness to her that makes me wonder if she picked someone good.

Maybe she does share the same feelings for Niall and is excited because she managed to pull his name. That idea makes me feel slightly guilty that I pulled Nat's name instead of him. Maybe I could switch him somehow.

"Okay. Everyone be at my place tomorrow night at eight o'clock. And don't forget your gifts!" Nat says as her parting words.

~

I struggle with my gift as I attempt to press Nat's doorbell. There's a bag wrapped awkwardly around the gift as my attempt at keeping which wrapping paper was my own a secret. However, I'm starting to think the extra effort wasn't worth it.

When I finally managed to hit the button, I listen to the bell chime from inside and cross my toes that I have the right house.

Nat answers my prayers as she pulls the door open, giving me a wide smile as she takes me in.

"Someone cleans up well," she states, stepping back so I can now get inside.

"I figured Christmas parties were kind of a special thing," I say, now feeling slightly self-conscious in my dress and black boots. I've even managed to put soft waves in my hair as an effort to fully complete my look.